Lewis7789 2002 Protege5 build thread (tons of pics)

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he seems to be mat at me, just wanted to talk (i.e.: not work on cars) and he never called me back :(

i think he just hung out with that Josh guy...
 
I took the weekend off from cars and just relaxed at home alone. It was delightful. :)

iracemine, what kind of seats/harness/harness bar do you have? I can't imagine you're stock.
 
Battery time;

The Milly needs a battery since I was a nice guy and gave the one that was in it to Pablo for his craptastic Miata battery when he traded in his 3. So now the Milly needs a battery. I have an Optima Redtop in the P5 right now I bought about 4 years ago and would switch that to the Milly. Then buy a Braile battery for the P5. The way i look at it is I need to buy a new battery regardless so I might as well upgrade for a couple bucks more, ya know?

Does anyone have any recommendations for a quality, lightweight battery?
 
I took the weekend off from cars and just relaxed at home alone. It was delightful. :)

iracemine, what kind of seats/harness/harness bar do you have? I can't imagine you're stock.

Only one seat (tore everything else out), and its a Sparco 2000. Harness is a Sparco 6 point. I did the 6 point simply because I didn't have to make a point for the5 point submarine belt to bolt to. I just used the two front seat bolts to mount the 6 point two submarines straps to. And its a FIA. The FIA rating last 5 years instead of 3 for the SFI rating. So for the extra $50... duh. For the harness bar.... those things are just a death trap. Even before I had and after I had welded in my roll bar I used a "H" shoulder strap. They go over my harness peice down to the rear seat. But yeah had a custom made roll bar welded in for less than I could buy a bolt on autopower. Much stiffer and much lighter too! Love this thread man. Keep it up. If I had your car in my MC club I would be murdering the competition.
 
What are these oil pressure gauge woes I'm hearing about?

Evan, you're a skinny dude. Have you ever looked into Racetech seats? They have a model called the RT1000 that's like 15 lbs and can be had for $690 w/ free shipping from Bimmerworld (BMW guys love these). For harnesses I'm looking at either a G-Force 5/6-point (~$180 with snap-in ends) or the Schroth Clubman ($200)
 
or try a buddy club seat. corey will be able to chime in on this. ian decker ( a local autocrosser ) has one in his integra and its pretty great. tight fit, but awesome hold.
 
i'd do a corbeau seat, bracket (that's made for the protege), and 5 point harness all for about $500 shipped! now that's a deal!
 
Thanks so much for all the info, guys! There are tons of options out there, just depends on how much $$$ I am willing to spend really. I like my Recaros, I just wish I could use them for NASA. And if I buy new seats/harnesses I'll need to replace them every 5 years. I keep tossing the idea back and forth; do I just keep the Recaros and stock belts or upgrade so I feel more connected to the car? Arg.

ps- iracemine, I would love to see you drive my car on the track and I'll ride shotgun so I can take notes and work on my driver mod. Where are you located anyway, may I ask?

I was reading my Modified Magazine the other morning and someone sent in a letter to them asking about harness bars and their EvoX had an AMS harness bar that they said was SCCA legal. But it's basically an eBay bar with an AMS logo. I just don't understand how that's SCCA legal? I've always been told that harness bars are a bad idea. But then again, I've also been told bolting your rear harnesses to the back seatbelt bolts is a bad idea too because it will apparently compress your spine in a crash. But there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the harness bar mounting point and a rear roll bar (Autopower) mounting point so why is one good and one bad? I'm rambling again... Perhaps I should post in the Motorsports section and ask but I'm sure I'll get flamed. But meh, I have a thick skin. heh-heh
 
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^ he only has one seat... lol

after I pick up the SpeedCircuit turbo kit, ill be saving for a seat after that, shipping to Hawaii always raises the price up $250
 
Battery time;

The Milly needs a battery since I was a nice guy and gave the one that was in it to Pablo for his craptastic Miata battery when he traded in his 3. So now the Milly needs a battery. I have an Optima Redtop in the P5 right now I bought about 4 years ago and would switch that to the Milly. Then buy a Braile battery for the P5. The way i look at it is I need to buy a new battery regardless so I might as well upgrade for a couple bucks more, ya know?

Does anyone have any recommendations for a quality, lightweight battery?

If your looking for a small cheap battery try a riding mower battery they have the same top post terminals and are smaller than a normal car battery.

And the harness bar is a good stop gap measure before putting in a cage but I wouldn't drive @10/10th with out a cage. The "H" strap harness is good for autox but I wouldn't use iton a race track because of the spinal compression that you mentioned in an accident.
 
Hmm, interesting, Marc. I'll look into those batteries as well. As usual, I've got lots of research to do before buying...

And as far as the roll bar, I'm beginning to sway towards just buying the AutoPower rear roll bar and being done with it. Heh-heh. I want my instructor to be as safe as possible, NASA legal but don't want to spend a ton of money. But I know you gotta pay to play... I don't have any intentions on "racing" in the next 7-8 years, just lots of HPDE and track days to improve my driving.

I posted a long-ass post in the Motorsports section. Hopefully they will be kind. I'm sure it's annoying when new guys have so many questions but I sincerely appreciate all the help from you guys. (2thumbs)
 
Check out the Deka battery I posted a few post back.

They have enough cranking amps as well for daily driving.
You just have to buy the terminals ($15-20)
 
Glad to hear you want to get a autopower roll bar. I have no idea why they put the points below the shoulder. I always thought the same thing, that they would compress your spine. Oh and they do. I have a 100 mile endurance race coming up and I guarantee they will be compressing my spine. But with all the bolt ins and the chassis shop I went too that's what they want the point to be at. like a 5 degree lower than your shoulders. Oh and I live in the northern Chicago land area. I don't know if I would drive anyone's car just yet. but video footage (of other FWD cars) has been huge for me!
 
Evan I would see what info couuld be found from NASCAR for belts and what not. After Dale Sr. death they really ramped up the safety stuff. I was helping out a guy with an ARCA car when all the seat belt stuff was changed but I don't recall the specifics. I will say this, if you are going to use a 5 or 6 point harness system get a hans device or one of the other head and neck restraint systems. How's that, more research for you to do.
 
For a roll bar you also may want to check out Kirk Racing and see if they make one for the Protege. From pictures of roll bars in RX-7's the Kirk Racing ones are very similar to the Autopower units but are about $50 cheaper and the lead time is 2-3 weeks (or so I'm told).

I'll +1 the Deka batteries although I'm not looking for something quite as small as you are (rotaries are harder to turn over). They seem to have some good options in the 15-20 lb range. For example, the ETX18L model does 340 CCA, weighs 18 lb and is <$90 on Amazon currently.
 
Hey Evan...
If youre thinking about going with the AMS Harness bar let me know. I have a good friend who works for AMS and could get you a decent deal on parts. I remember my first DSM being worked on by them in the smallest little industrial building and now they are HUGE!!! The guys there know there stuff thats for sure!
 
Thanks for all the info on the harness bars, belts, batteries and roll bars, guys! I think I'll end up holding off on the seats/roll bars until spring since it's not essential right now.
ps- Derek, thanks VERY much for the inside offer to AMS but I don't think they make their harness bars anymore. And I would feel like a d-bag asking you to hook me up (basically a stranger) on one. But thank you!

My new plan is to swap my KLDE in the P6 right now into my Milly next weekend (November 12th) so I'll have the Milly for the winter, then buy a car cover for the P6 until the garage space is available in December. Then buy a KLZE and possibly a light build on it then swap that into the P6 this winter with MegaSquirt and an MFactory LSD. I just realized last night while hunting for a new (used) KL for the Milly, derr, why not buy a KLZE for the P6 and just swap them? 30 more hp for ~$200 makes sense to me. I just don't know why I didn't think to do this earlier. It's gonna suck to do 1-1/2 swaps in a weekend but hopefully I'll have some help from Wes, Pablo and possibly Ivan. :)

oh- and I'm probably going to sell the Gram Lights and ASA's this winter and buy some nice 17's to use for DD wheels. I'm not sure what yet, I don't want anything too lightweight because the roads here beat up wheel rims. Maybe some new Rota's or something. And I'm thinking in a gunmetal color. But again, wheels are later down the road seeing how my P6 will be sitting on jackstands in the garage this winter. :)
 
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